Low power and Lossy Networks (LLNs), e.g., sensor networks, have many applications, such as Smart Grid and Smart Cities. These Networks are often the subject of various configuration issues. Examples include lossy links, low bandwidth, battery operation, low memory and/or processing capability, etc. One example routing solution to LLN configuration issues is a protocol called Routing Protocol for LLNs or “RPL,” which is a distance vector routing protocol that builds a Destination Oriented Directed Acyclic Graph (DODAG, or simply DAG) in addition to a set of features to bound the control traffic, support local (and slow) repair, etc. The RPL architecture provides a flexible method by which each node performs DAG discovery, construction, and maintenance.
One feature of LLNs is scalability of the networks, since DAGs can be relatively small (e.g., hundreds of nodes) or extremely large (e.g., millions of nodes). Currently, scalability is enhanced in RPL by limiting control plane traffic using dynamic timers (known as Trickle-based timers), which reduce the load associated with control plane traffic by limiting that traffic to instances that are believed necessary. Another enhancement to scalability is achieved through threshold-based reporting (e.g., metric smoothing). Yet, further enhancements are desirable, particularly since, many operations nevertheless require action by the entire DAG, such as a complete rebuild of the DAG (global repair), which is an expensive operation for such networks. In addition, some of these actions in certain networks, such as those meant to carry sensitive traffic (e.g., alarms), may require frequent global operations.